We heard loud and scary coyotes last night! Woke me up from a dead sleep and scared the ever livin out of me! The coyotes, or whatever they are, sounded unlike anything else I've heard. Glad nothing came of the commotion!
Daveed and I woke extra early to be on trail by 7:00, we needed to hike our longest mileage today, 13.5 miles. It wasn't too far to Muir Trail Ranch (MTR), we cruised the 6 miles there and we arrived there around 10:00. We enjoyed a cool, shady morning of hiking down, down, down to MTR. The downhill was painful toward the end, especially the very steep section just before arriving at the ranch. The switchbacks down were exposed so we enjoyed scenic, wide views of the valley and surrounding mountains all morning.
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| Beautiful views down into the valley |
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| Gorgeous and exposed |
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| We enjoyed a morning filled with mostly shade, headed down the switchbacks to Muir Trail Ranch |
We got our resupply buckets, sorted, packed and headed out. MTR is not hiker friendly and they treat hikers as an inconvenience. They would not let us use their bathrooms. I was super pissed about it since I had to pee the whole time we were there. I considered peeing in plain sight right in the field by the resupply house and store, just out of spite. But I didn't. If I did the JMT again, I would not resupply at MTR. They are the most expensive resupply and they are rude. I get that they are a horse ranch not a hiker hangout. But we all paid to have our resupplies shipped and then pack mule trained to your location. And we all follow your rules of using your labels etc. If you don't like hikers, stop offering the service. Oh wait. You make boat loads of money off of it. Continue.
If I do the JMT again, I will resupply at VVR and then again at Independence with the Mt Williamson Motel and skip MTR. The only good thing about MTR was the newborn foal we got to see. He was only a couple days old and all legs! Other than that, MTR can kiss my ass.
We headed out of MTR with our heavy packs weighing us down, loaded up with 8 days of food...the up hill out of the ranch was tough! We got rained on and hailed on off and on all day. We stopped at a random spot on the trail to eat lunch under a big sequoia tree, it shaded us from the sun and sheltered us from the rain- which we experienced both several times during the 30 minutes or so we sat under the tree!
We hiked next to the San Joaquin River the last 3 or 4 miles to camp. Very scenic and rocky, reminded us again of scenes from Lord of the Rings.
Here's a short video of the San Joaquin River Valley I took under the shelter of a small overhanging roof/boulder pile next to the trail:
http://youtu.be/1qeH9A4XPoA
We hiked the most miles today, 13.5. Daveed and I both felt better today than the "VVR Day" we all struggled with. I was glad to get to camp though and get my boots off and get off my feet. We found a very nice secluded spot with no one else around. Tiphane and Jackie Ray were about 200 yards down the trail and across the river. Turns out their camp spot was a bit noisy with a few younger dudes that were having a good time that night.
Tomorrow we will be in Evolution Basin!! I can't wait! Everyone says it's so beautiful!
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| Camp at Goddard Canyon Trail Junction, elevation 8486 ft |
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